President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe used his 93rd birthday interview to reach out to US President Donald Trump for help (which might be why he said so many nice things about his political methods, to curry favour). He wants Trump to take another look at the sanctions enforced on Mugabe and his administration back in 2003 and later extended by the Obama administration that claim he rigged an election and violated people’s human rights. He basically wants Trump to bail him out of that, which is most likely why he’s trying to get in his good books.
Trump will probably help him out without even reviewing the sanctions or investigating the allegations in any way, just to get another one back at Obama and undo one more piece of his Presidency.
Mugabe’s been an outspoken Trump supporter since the beginning
Back in November, the Zimbabwean press were quick to announce President Mugabe’s support of Trump and happiness that he’d been elected. In the interview, he said he didn’t want Hillary Clinton to be elected (probably because she’s in Obama’s pocket and was actually a part of his administration, so there’s no way she’d bail him out of his sanctions; at least with Trump he has an inkling of a shot). Mugabe accused American democracy of “arrogance,” since he is “just now under sanctions imposed not by Donald Trump, but by Obama.” So, he thinks that because Obama is no longer President, he should be absolved of his crimes like they never happened, because there’s a new President.
Unfortunately for Mugabe, sanctioning doesn’t work like that. Plus, Trump has far bigger fish to fry than bailing Zimbabwe out, like sorting out his relationship problems with China and Taiwan, preventing a nuclear war with North Korea (although he’s looking closer to starting one), and keeping his shady dealings with Russia as under wraps as possible.
